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ONE OF THE EARLIEST
cataloguers of the southern sky was James Dunlop, who spent several years
observing the sky from Paramatta, New South Wales, Australia.
In his 1827 article, presented to the Royal Society by Sir John
Herschel, Dunlop writes: "The following nebulae and clusters of stars in
the southern hemisphere were observed by me at my house in Paramatta, situated
about 6'' of a degree south and about 1s.78 of time east of the Brisbane
Observatory. The observations were made in the open air, with an excellent
9-feet reflecting telescope, the clear aperture of the large mirror being nine
inches. This telescope was occasionally fitted up as a meridian telescope . . .
the eye end of the telescope was raised or lowered by a cord over a pulley
attached to a strong wooden post let into the ground about two feet: with this
apparatus I have observed a sweep of eight or ten degrees in breadth with very
little deviation . . . and the tremor was very little even with a considerable
magnifying power. I made drawings or representations of a great number of the
nebulae and clusters at the time of observation . . . and also very correct
drawings of the Nebulae major and minor, together with a representation of the
milky nebulosity surrounding the star Eta Robur Caroli. . . . The reductions and
arrangement have been principally made since my return to Europe; and I trust
this catalogue of the nebulae will be found an acceptable addition to that
knowledge which the Brisbane observatory has been the means of putting the world
in possession of, respecting that important and hitherto but little known
portion of the heavens.
I worked through John Herchel's Cape Observations and
drew up a list of Dunlop vs. NGC number, presented below. For details on the
'missing' objects, read Herschel's comments. |
